Discharge lamps, and particularly high-power metal-halide discharge lamps, present problems in connection with reliable long-term seal of an electrical lead-through into a ceramic discharge vessel. Ceramic plugs are customarily used. There are many proposals for solutions to the problems. A pin or a tubular element of a metal, such as tungsten or molybdenum, is used as the electrical conductor. The plug may be of ceramic, and the pin or tube is melt-sealed by means of a glass melt or a melt ceramic into the plug. Alternatively, the lead-through may be directly sintered to the plug. The connection between the ceramic and the metal is not a secure bond however, so that the seal has a limited lifetime. It has also been proposed to use a cermet, which is a combination material formed of ceramic and metal, as the material for the plug--see U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,078, Bunk et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,049, Heider et al.
Plugs have been tested which comprise a plurality of layers of cermet with different relationships of metal to ceramic to provide for better matching of thermal coefficients of expansion. European EP 0 650 184 A1, Nagayama, to which U.S.-designated PCT/JP93/00959 corresponds, discloses a non-conductive cermet plug having axially arranged layers. This seal is very complex and uses a lead-through which has a thread, an outer metal disk or flange, and a metal or glass melt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,956, Partlow et al., discloses a metal-halide discharge lamp having a ceramic discharge vessel. The electrode is carried in a lead-through which is formed as a disk of electrically conductive cermet. The electrode is sintered into the cermet. Additionally, the lead-through is surrounded by a ring-shaped stopper or plug of cermet which is connected with the ceramic discharge vessel, typically of aluminum oxide, by a glass melt. The glass melt, however, is corroded by aggressive components of the fill in the discharge lamps, particularly by the halides therein, so that the lifetime of such a lamp is rather short. Embedding the electrode in the cermet lead-through, additionally, leads to stresses which eventually may lead to fissures and cracks in the cermet. The diameter of the disk lead-through is quite large. The lead-through is electrically conductive and, thus, the discharge arc can flash back or arc back to the lead-through which would quickly lead to blackening of the discharge vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,758, Evans, describes a special arrangement for a metal-halide lamp having a ceramic discharge vessel without an outer surrounding envelope. The lead-through is formed as a pin of electrically conductive cermet. The electrode is sintered into the cermet. The cermet pin in turn is sintered into a plug of aluminum oxide, and this plug is connected to the vessel by a glass melt. This arrangement also has the disadvantages above mentioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,609, Geven et al., describes a metal-halide discharge lamp which requires an extremely long-drawn capillary tube of aluminum oxide as an inner plug element. A pin-like metallic lead-through is connected by a glass melt at the outer end in a melting zone. It is important that the melting zone is at a sufficiently low temperature. The lead-through pin can be made of two parts, in which the part facing the discharge can be made of an electrically conductive cermet, which contains carbide, silicide or a nitride. The sealing technology results in a large overall length of the discharge vessel, it is expensive to make and, also, uses the corrosion-susceptible glass melt. The gap between the capillary tube and the lead-through results in a comparatively large dead volume in which a substantial portion of the fill in the lamp may condense, so that a large quantity of fill is necessary. The aggressive fill has intensive contact with the corrosion-susceptible components in the sealing region.